The New School Harvest Bash took place on Saturday, November 6, 2010 at the Nantucket New School, with an 80s theme, and celebrating their 25th anniversary with dinner and dancing in 80s attire. Photos by Gene Mahon. More at MahonAboutTown.com.

You might recognize Adam as the guy who put up your best friend’s wedding tent in ‘Sconset. And Kevin was the one who patrolled the beaches during a rough Surfside day. You probably saw Tim serving Dark and Stormies at the Straight Wharf, and Tucker catching some big surf out in Madequecham.

But this winter, you won’t see any of these guys on Nantucket. Instead of traveling or spending the winter on the rock or moving to another island or city, Adam Weldy, Kevin Harrington, Tim Farley and Tucker McGrath are taking four bikes to the open road for a good cause and under the name of a new charity they started; ACK4ALL.

It all began as a challenge over a few beers in a living room when the guys started talking about their winter plans. This led to conversation of volunteering for a cause and a way to give back. With the cholera crisis in Haiti making international news, the guys couldn’t physically go and help out first hand as none are medically certified. So they decided to raise money for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization.

The J/P Haitian Relief Organization supports the needs of hospitals and government, religious and community organizations by building an isolation ward seperate from the hospital and stocking it with fluids and medical supplies. It also funds handwashing stations and extensive education campaigns on hygiene and sanitation.

The guys saw they could help by donating money and supplies, but wanted to get others to help as well. They planned a cross-country fundraising bike route and ACK4ALL began to flourish.

Adam Weldy, Tucker McGrath, Tim Farley, and Kevin Harrington

Starting on January 3rd, Tucker, Tim, Kevin and Adam will bike 3,600 miles from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The guys will begin their journey out of Charleston, South Carolina at Folly Beach. Their quest from coast to coast will last between 60 and 80 days, finishing in San Diego and covering the southern portion of the United States. All natural athletes, (Tim has run marathons, Tucker surfs and Kevin’s and Adam’s jobs requires a lot of manual labor), the guys have spent the fall training on stationary bikes, running, and hitting the gym.

The four will be on touring bikes, which are rigid for the road. Each will be carrying between 20 and 30 pounds on their backs and will be completely self sufficiant. They plan to cook and camp for the most of the journey, with a motel mixed in when the weather does not cooperate. They will truly be relying upon each other as they have no support team following them. Things the guys have to worry about include mud, snakes, severe weather, swamps, tornadoes and passing cars and trucks.

You can follow the guys on the road too. To keep everyone updated on their whereabouts, they’ve put together Facebook, Twitter and a Blog web pages. They’ve already raised a few thousand for the cause, and hope to raise $10,000 by the trip’s end. Last week, they held a fundraiser at The Vault in Boston, and over Columbus Day weekend, the guys had a BBQ on Nantucket with more than 100 attendees to jump-start the charity and the ACK in ACK4ALL.

The J/P Haitian Relief Organization is just the first charity that ACK4ALL has set its sight on. The guys plan to continue their efforts with on and off-island non-profit groups.

To donate and find out more about Tim, Tucker, Adam and Kevin and ACK4ALL, check out their website www.ack4all.com, or become a friend to them on Facebook by looking up ACK4ALL. Their blog can be viewed from their website and whenever the guys really learn about Twitter, Tim said they will be “Tweeting” throughout their journey.

Holly Finigan has been living seasonally in Nantucket for the last five years. The 26-year-old graduate of the University of New Hampshire has spent her winters in the Caribbean, New Zealand, and Maui, and is heading to Argentina in January. She tells people she was a monk in her former life. You can find Holly slinging drinks at LoLa 41. Check out her popular blog “the blACKbook” at www.hollyblACKbook.blogspot.com, or email Holly at hollyfinigan@gmail.com. If she doesn’t respond right away, you can be sure she’s getting new material for her column over a red wine at the Boarding House.

A few months ago, Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston offered to partner with the Dreamland Foundation to create a flash mob for Nantucket Christmas Stroll. Donald Dallaire, Director of Programming for the Dreamland Foundation, took up the challenge.

Citi Performing Arts Center is dedicated to providing broad-based, popular entertainment and arts education programming and inspiring a greater appreciation for the performing arts through educational outreach, public programming, and community partnerships.

Donald came to Nantucket from Rhode Island for the first time in 2005-06, hired by the Dreamland as an actor in the Dreamland resident company. He’s now a full time resident as of March 2010, and on staff full time at the Dreamland Foundation.

Courtney Falite, who interned at Citi Center and is now an actress and dancer in Rhode Island, choreographed the piece after the music was chosen – Maria Carey’s “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”. A sound system by Tim McDonald “just happened” to be set up in front of reMain, and several videograhers were wandering about in the general vicinity.

More than 70 people, including 10 children, attended a half dozen 2 hour rehearsals in the weeks before the Stroll surprise.

Flash mobs have gone viral in the past few months. With less than 100 flash mob videos on Youtube last year at this time, there are now more than 1000 in the past two weeks alone.

Google Trends mentions of the term “Flash Mob” in America

The first ever flash mob was planned for a department store in New York City in May of 2003 by Bill Wasik, an editor of Harper’s Magazine. The store was tipped off in advance, so it fizzled. Wasik tried again in June at Macy’s, this time not telling the performers where they were going until minutes before. It was a simple idea – 100 people gathered around a rug, saying they all lived together and made all purchases as a group. Next, 200 people filled the lobby and mezzanine of the Hyatt hotel and all applauded at once for 15 seconds. Wasik said he created flash mobs to lampoon conformity and those who always want to be part of the next big thing, and though the term had been used before, Wasik used it first to describe this form of performance art.

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary added the term on 2004, calling it an “unusual and pointless act”, differentiating it from performance art and protests. Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English defines it as “a group of people who organize on the Internet and then quickly assemble in a public place, do something bizarre, and disperse.”

The first large scale flash mob took place in 2006 in various London Underground stations when thousands assembled with their ipods, and at a designated time, all started dancing to the music. The International Pillow Fight Day took place in 2008 in more than 25 cities around the world, the largest performance to date with 5000 participants in NYC alone. Word of the event was spread by Facebook, Myspace, blogs, public forums, personal websites, word of mouth, text messaging, and email.

The final video of the Nantucket flash mob at Stroll was produced by Lisa Frey, and was edited from footage from 8 different cameras. You can contact Donald at donald@nantucketdreamland.org. Click below to watch the video.

The 3rd Annual Santa Claus Pub Crawl took place on Sunday, December 5, 2010, starting at Cisco Brewery and ending at the Box, a benefit for Inky Santa. Photos by Gene Mahon. More at MahonAboutTown.com.

The Dumpster Chronicles: A Whimsical and Irreverent Guide to Nantucket, Being Part 18

Reflections on 2010

By Kerry Hallam

“It’s all over bar the shouting” as the actress said to the bishop. It has arrived; the first frost which heralds the onslaught of winter and the virtual end of life as we know it!

At best, the days when the sun appears will be few and far between and we will be at the mercy of the biting cold and storms that will sweep across the island and render life an interminable misery. Relatively speaking, that’s the good news! I guess it is something of an eternal ritual which we accept with reluctant but stout hearts, a liberal supply of the beverage of our choice, fully operational heating systems and an account in good standing with Netflix. At least it is predictable to a degree or two.

We are heading for the grande finale of 2010 at breakneck speed. Thanksgiving closely followed by Christmas, which has somehow never had the track to catch up, will be upon us all too soon which will signify the traditional merchandising madness – the erection of large inflatable (but owing to the overnight freezing temperatures, usually flaccid) plastic Santa Claus, elf and raindeer figures on the front lawns; overflowing garbage bags brimming with discarded boxes and wrapping paper, and the remnants of the mandatory seasonal food binges. This is usually closely followed by a period of depressing calm as people recover from the festivities together with mild cases of alcoholic poisoning until New Year’s Eve when the whole thing is repeated and another year begins.

Well, I suppose this is as good a time as any to take a look back over the year of 2010 which is fading as we speak – the highs and lows, ups and downs, bumps and bruises, and what it is that we are more than likely going to try to forget.

For the most part, the weather was exceptional. We were treated to a dollop of sunny days and warm temperatures, and that was in May! The outstanding summer and fall will no doubt be referred to in hushed and reverential terms in the years to come.

Business began to pick up and generally people were able to wear, if not a smile, then a slightly less somber attitude.

On the political front, the grass root emergence of the grass root party’s move to encourage Nantucket to succeed from the state has once more encountered a defeat. This time round, the problem was trying to reach an agreement on a new name for the island, who would become King and Queen, and how many more rotaries would be needed.

But “A” for effort.

Next came the proposal to annex Martha’s Vineyard. Once again it was a case of too little too late. We had the chance and blew it.

So now we are left with the more recent and certainly more enterprising scheme, that being to invade Rhode Island. I think this has a certain appeal. The general idea will be to use the same approach as that of the recent invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, which seems to have worked pretty well from what we are told. It would indeed be a sure fire way to create badly needed income for the island’s labor force and, more over, since Rhode Island is in fact not an island, it would provide a ready made new name. “Nantucket North” does have a certain ring, don’t you think?

It will also afford us the long awaited opportunity to build the undersea tunnel to the mainland. The same company that designed and constructed the Chunnel connecting France and the U.K. have been retained and it is now just a matter of time and resources.

What this will mean in terms of Nantucket Island is any one’s guess. It is possible that everyone will up and move to Nantucket North leaving the island to be converted to a refuse disposal facility and a staging post for the shipment of discarded New England waste to China.

So, we will await the New Year and all the blessings which may attach.

Kerry Hallam was born and raised in the North of England. He was elected to the Royal Society of Artists and later established his first studio in the South of France. Kerry has lived and painted on the island for the past thirty years. He is represented internationally by Chalk and Vermilion of Greenwich, and has held extensive one man shows in the States, Japan, France and the U.K. His autobiography ‘Getting to Nantucket’ was recently published, and in the past few years, he has issued seven C.D.’s of own written and performed music. All illustrations are by Kerry Hallam. This column will appear regularly.